J. Period - In the Ghetto (Wake Up!) lyrics

[Verse 1: Black Thought] Yo, if you're coming here to keep you a gat close Ain't a lot of tolerance for people that lactose You can get your back broke, stumped out, choked Or slashed throat or poked in a cloud of black smoke Old heads tell you 'bout the trouble with black folk Coke heads tell you 'bout the difference in crack smoke Chicken heads doing the back stroke, lot of sleep n***as that act woke People cashed in on their last hope, in the city of brotherly thuggery Stitches in hospital recovery, they get at you suddenly That love don't exist, when glove's on your fist Brothers be literally sh** with snuffs on they hip With a package out of their strip and dubs on their whip It's madness, you say is it bad, yes You see a whole lot of d**h threats and bad checks You the place, your money or your life, or bad best sonny, you're in the... [Hook] Ghetto (and don't think...) Ghetto (everything I did since I came) Ghetto (God let this fortune spell) Ghetto (everybody let that... for me) [Verse 2: Rakim] Yeah, welcome to the concrete city, everybody carry metal when It's impossible to settle in, you can hear the seven sins Blowing through the ghetto wind, my eyes seen the evil That'll make the devil grin, paying in misery's h**n It gets depressing when the bad news never end Pops shot and k**ed, robbing the bodega, I was eleven and Moms was a shot of booze away from shooting h**ne Too true, my element, my future's irrelevant, it's evident Then I'mma either end up dead or in the pen Drug using and selling it, thug shooting and k**ing it A desert land, trying to bring dinero's in Crime free, I ain't losing better bet again I'm trying to find heaven in this hell I'm in I'm more clever then I've ever been I'm too thorough when the attitude is better win, when you living in a... [Hook] Ghetto (and don't think...) Ghetto (everything I did since I came) Ghetto (God let this fortune spell) Ghetto (everybody let that... for me) Ghetto (nobody smiling) Ghetto (nobody smiling) Ghetto (nobody smiling) [Outro: John Legend] Talk about the ghetto, ay ay, ay The ghetto, dub, dub, du-dub dub The ghetto, talk about the ghetto, nobody smiling The ghetto, nobody smiling Talk about the ghetto, yeah The ghetto, hey yeah, nobody smiling Talk about the ghetto, nobody smiling...